Ferrari is a real threat, says Toto Wolff

Ferrari could go back to being even more aggressive following the summer break from the international racing circus.

Mercedes-Benz Motorsport executive director Toto Wolff says his team must remain very wary of the threat posed by Ferrari after Sebastian Vettel took a substantial chunk out of Lewis Hamilton’s championship lead in the Hungarian GP.

“Ferrari is a real threat for us,” Wolff, told the website motorsport.com in an interview.

“The Hungarian GP? A slap in the face every now and then could be helpful. What happened in Malaysia, with Sebastian Vettel’s victory, was certainly a little bit of a wake-up call,” explained Wolff.

He added: “After Melbourne we felt we had the situation under control and we were caught out for various reasons. And in hindsight, maybe such a little slap is good sometimes for the organisation.

“We have definitely benefited because we have probably set new, more aggressive targets in terms of development, lap time targets and quality expectations. We know that the threat is real”.

Wolf went on to say “we haven’t won the championship yet,” specifying that the world championship is very long and that the Mercedes team is now focused on working effectively to continue improving.

“This is the only way of maintaining our standards. I repeat, Ferrari could be even stronger after the summer break,” concluded the Austrian chief executive.